Pickin' Up GQ

My husband and I had a six hour drive back to Boston today, and at one of our stops, he picked up the latest edition of GQ. Now, I could have done work in the car, but instead I chose to do what any girl stuck in a car for six hours would do - flip through the magazine. And there, towards the end and past the pictures of Scarlett Johansson, was a fascinating article titled "The Viral Me". It was like the topics we've discussed in class, combined into one article, on steroids. Below are some of the highlights and what it was I found interesting about these:

1) There is a place in Silicon Valley called Y Combinator that basically exists to recruit brilliant "techie" people (read: the next Zuck) and provide them with the environment, counseling and initial $$ they need to pitch their business idea to angel investors in 3 months. Doing a little research, I found out that through this incredible initiative is that WePay (and Reddit and Weebly) got their start. Only 3% of applicants get in, but those that do...well, its history being made. This makes me consider a point we haven't discussed in class - "foreign" talent. There are so many amazingly brilliant people that are not US citizens, that come to study in the US and because they can't find visa sponsorship, have to go back to their home countries. I read an article in the Economist a while back about how they're trying to pass a law to permit certain students to remain in the US regardless of visa sponsorship. I'm wondering if a place like this company can get a movement started to retain this talent that is so crucial to the development of the US and what your thoughts are on that matter.

2) The article also talks about how far social media is going and how everything dealing with technology must include a social layer if its going to be successful. One of the latest social media platforms is called Blippy, where users register credit cards with the site and everything you buy with that site is posted for everyone to see...including price!!! Isn't this taking it too far??? The author felt the same way I did, but talked about how because of the way the site is structured with buttons like "Awesome" and "Funny" (similar to FB's "Like"), it actually is quite fun to use. I don't know if I agree - what do you think? Would you ever use a site like this?

3) Another point the article brings up is the concept of friction - how hard it is to do something and how social media platforms that eliminate friction will be crowned winners in the end. FB takes away friction because the fields are pre-populated and all you need to do is fill in blanks. Twitter takes away friction because unlike a blog, which you need to be creative for paragraphs on end (or at least attempt to be), Twitter is only 140 characters of creativity. Now there is another platform, DailyBooth, which is Twitter but with pictures. No 140 characters, just pictures. Eliminates the friction of having to be witty in 140 characters. Friction is also what drives the brilliant programmers of Silicon Valley to design new platforms, as they are trying to solve people's issues. The author poses an interesting question - what happens when you eliminate all friction? What do you strive for next? Is it possible to eliminate all friction?

There were other really interesting tidbits and examples, and a lot of new tools that he talks about. I'll bring the article on Tuesday in case anyone wants to read it (looked for it online, to no avail). That said, I did tear it out of the magazine, so if what you're really after is the pictures of Scarlett Johansson, just let me know and I'll bring the whole magazine in. ;)

Of Course I Can Do Brain Surgery - I'm Part of the Surgeons R' Us Community

I found the article “Community Relations 2.0” very entertaining to read, yet one that didn’t provide a lot of new information. My thought is that after reading a vast number of articles on this subject, which for all intent and purposes is relatively new and uncharted territory, it will be hard to find something groundbreaking in every reading – we are nearly done with the course (*tear*) and thus have done A LOT of reading.

One of the things that did jump out at me is one we’ve discussed before – the power shift from the “experts” to the “amateurs”. The article mentions an empowered patient that convinces his doctor of increasing his dose, based on the patient’s research and testimonials from other patients like him. While this seems reasonable, it does make wonder where the line stops. Physicians go through 10+ years of training, hard work, and schooling to become experts in their field, and all of a sudden patients who have no medical background can influence their decisions. Similarly, as we’ve discussed before, creative minds in agencies go through schooling and years of on-the-job blood, sweat and tears (trust me, I’ve seen it first hand), only to have a guy on the couch come up with something funny and have it become the next Superbowl ad. In fact, PepsiCo is planning SIX (seis, 6!!!) Superbowl ads this year and all of them will come from “ordinary” people with no advertising background. That blows my mind (at around $2.8 million per :30 ss, we’re talking that they’ll be spending nearly $17 million on ads created by someone like your neighbor…not that there’s anything wrong with your neighbor!). When I worked in advertising (for Frito-Lay actually!), we would go through at least 4 rounds of creative presentations and numerous rounds of testing before picking the one ad that would air. And here they are, turning over the reins to Joe Schmoe, spending $17 million on their creative work.

Ok. I’ll stop my ranting to ask the question(s) of the week – do you agree it’s all a bit crazy or is it just me? Where do you think the line will be drawn to separate experts from amateurs (is that even a possibility)? What industry do you think is most susceptible to falling prey to the expert amateur syndrome? Pick one, pick all or pose your own question!

Giving Guidance

In full disclosure, I sadly report that MLopez2.8 has "upgraded" to MLopez2.9, which though it seems like a good thing, just means the blogger is becoming more obsolete. ;) Just didn't want to be accused of not being transparent, one of the many key points in the Starbucks case (Gallaugher and Ransbotham) reading I did for this week.

This case was incredibly useful in showing how to integrate the different components of a social media tactic, through their 3-M model. I'll focus my post on one of the pieces of advice the authors gave, because I've heard it now in two different classes and it seems interesting to me: providing guidance, rather than strict rules, to employees.

It seemed ironic to me that in a world that is so loose, where anything goes, that the recommended strategy is to give guidelines, rather than specific commands (thus increasing the "looseness", which companies tend to dread). Starbucks' guidelines includes "be human", "be humble in replies", "share timely information", among others. So when Bob the Tweeting Barista faces a ranting customer, he uses these guidelines and his own judgement to react. In essence, his reaction may be very different than another employees reactions. Yet, Starbucks has done a fantastic job at addressing customers needs and being a pioneer in the use of social media, so apparently the guidelines work.

In our CRM class, we had Doug Woodard from Staples come in to talk about customer service at his organization. And he offered the same advice - don't give concrete rules, but rather, offer guidelines. "Be accountable"* and "Put yourself in their shoes"* are some of the ones that Staples uses. And like Starbucks, he said these guidelines have done wonders for customer service. Not only do employees feel empowered to take matters into their own hands, but consumers feel individual and appreciated, because the communication is tailored to them.

It all makes sense, really, but with so many different situations arising in social media (think: Dominos You Tube video - THE Dominos You Tube video), it would seem the guidelines need to be pretty comprehensive to cover all situations.

So, my question to you is, what are the top three guidelines you would give your employees who managed the social media space at your company?

*These weren't the exact guidelines, I just remembered the gist of the content and put it into my own words as an example.